There was a knock on the door and I woke up from the sound. My arms were wrapped around Edward's abdomen and my face was hiding in the crook of his neck. I looked over at the door and saw it wide open.
"Oh shit," I exclaimed, sitting up as I pulled the covers to cover my body. I glanced at the alarm clock and I realized I overslept by four hours. It was eight in the morning. I nudged Edward to wake up.
"What is it?" He groaned.
"It's your parents, you dimwit!" I hissed. "They left the door open!"
"What?" That caught his attention. "Fuck."
"You know what, I'll go take a shower. Just... sleep a little while." I told him, getting out of the bed and heading off into the bathroom. After a shower, I found that my clothes were beside the sink, folded and they smelt fresh. Esme must have washed them. I wore them on gratefully and brushed my teeth with Edward's toothbrush. I went down first and found his parents in the kitchen. Esme was at the stove cooking breakfast while Carlisle was seating down around the kitchen island with newspapers covering his face as he read. Esme saw me first and gave me a welcoming smile.
"Bella, good morning." She said.
"Morning," I replied, and I could see Carlisle's newspapers lower a little.
"Would you care for some bacon and eggs?"
I nodded, taking a seat around the island. "Thank you very much."
She served me a plate of bacon strips and an omelette and took a seat beside me. "I have a random question in mind— what languages do you speak?" She questioned.
"I speak a lot of languages, but the ones I'm more fluent at are Spanish, French, Italian & Russian."
"French & Russian?" She sounded frankly surprised.
"Vy govorite po-russki?" Carlisle suddenly spoke up in Russian, but continued reading the paper.
"Da," I replied back in the same language. "Éto moj lûbimyj âzyk."
"Don't mind him, he's just testing you." Esme said. "Russian is just one of the languages we use in this household. Carlisle comes from a Russian family while my whole family is French. This marriage actually was arranged to join our... families, but in the end we found love."
"That's beautiful," I commented. "It's nice that you both found love."
"Thank you." She smiled. "So tell me, how did you and Edward meet?" She asked curiously, passing a fork and a knife to me.
"We, uhm, we met on a bad note actually."
"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows. "What happened?"
"I was on a mission and he was my target." I simply explained.
"Oh." Esme said again, but this time she said it with much less enthusiasm.
"Can I please ask who opened the door just now?" I asked.
Esme shot a look at Carlisle who was still reading his paper, covering his face.
"I must say, you & Edward must have had a good night's sleep." He remarked.
"Carlisle," Esme warned.
He folded his newspaper and set it aside, picking up his cup of coffee in the process. "Bella, it has genuinely been nice to meet you but after you leave this house, I never want to see you bother us again." He looked me in the eye, his blue eyes that were warm last night turned into an icy blue.
"Carlisle—"
"Esme, don't push me." He told her.
"You've never been in charge of the family businesses and now you want to pretend that you are?" Esme stood up. "Edward's in charge now, so I think it's too late for that."
"I promise, you won't see me ever again." I breathed, pushing my plate away. "Thank you for the hospitality you both have shown. I'm sorry this ended on a bad note." I took my bag beside me and walked to the door. Esme walked me to it, but I didn't miss the glare she gave her husband.
"Bella, I'm sincerely sorry for what happened." She pursed her lips. "He isn't always like this."
"No, I should have known that I wasn't welcomed in here." I shook my head. "This is all my fault."
"Do you want to wait at the porch for Edward?" She asked softly. "I can tell him that you're outside."
"That's okay. I'll just leave first." I said. "Thank you."
"You can just walk out the gate, sweetheart. I'm sorry for what happened again."
"I'm sorry too." I said. "It was nice meeting you."
She gave me one last smile and closed the door unwillingly. I took a deep breath and turned away, walking down the porch and on the gravel. The gates opened automatically by themselves and I didn't look back.
21 missed calls from Edward and counting.
I was in my office, preparing for another mission that Siobhan gave me. This time, Rosalie & I were going overseas to recover a stolen artpiece that was owned by the Monégasque royal family. Eventually, I turned off my cellphone since it was turning unbearable to see Edward's name flashing across the screen with our faces. The picture was taken on our first date, when he insisted on getting someone to take a photo of us. Eventually, he found a friendly stranger who agreed on taking the picture for us. My head started to hurt as I thought back to that night.
My office landline rang suddenly and I picked up the call. "Swan," I said.
"Bella, have you gotten your things packed?" Rosalie asked. "How about the equipment? We'll be in Monaco for like, a week."
"I got the guys at the ammunition block to pack for us whatever they think we'll need." I said. "Just give me an hour to pack and we'll be down at the airport."
"I'll see you there, huns." She said. After she hung up, I locked my office up and took the cab to my apartment, since I came straight to HQ from Edward's parents' house. Once I reached, I took a black suitcase and threw in whatever I needed. I needed this mission and it came just in the right time. I needed to get away from whatever personal problems I had.
My cellphone rang and I picked it up.
"Swan."
"I'm downstairs already. I've picked up the equipment and our flight's in an hour. Hurry!"
"I'm coming down." I told her, grabbing my bags and locking the main door behind me. "I'll be there in two minutes, tops."
"Timer on." She said, before hanging up.
I got out of the building and a black Mercedes was waiting for me. The passenger window rolled down and Rosalie gave me a disapproving look as a joke. I rolled my eyes at her and fit in the bags at the trunk. I slid into the passenger seat and I heard something click.
"One minute, forty-two seconds." She sighed.
"Told you I'd be here." I chuckled.
"Have you told everyone we'll be gone for a week?" She said. "Edward?"
"No, but I'll tell them later." I waved her off.
She didn't notice the change in my tone when I replied her. Everything that happened this morning was still playing in my head. "Okay. Say bye-bye to America." She smiled.
So what do you think? I honestly have no idea what to say. Really.
xx Scarlett